Dysfunctional Book
Reviews
Dysfunctional Book
Reviews
( Reviews found by searching for Bil ( or Bill ) Keane at online booksellers )
For some reason, there have been a lot of unusual customer reviews submitted for Family Circus books lately. Noone knows why.
(Archived reviews that were mostly pulled from amazon.com on or about
March 9, 1999)
For the reviews collected March 13, 1999, click
here.
To see the latest archived reviews (March 2001), click
here.
This page is a service of Mutantdog's Genetic Anarchy Network , where our motto is... "If you can't lick them... try, try again."
Reviews posted at www.amazon.com :
I Had a Frightmare!
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 3.5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 16
billy@keane.com from Family Circus, Newspapers everywhere , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 2 out of 5 stars>
Unusual twist for the Family Circus
I don't know who pitched Bill Keane, the whole Family Circus meets Amityville Horror scenario, but it just does not work in I Had a Frightmare, a sort of soft-core porn late-night Cinemax film treatment rather than a collection of the usual array of humorous cartoons we are used to seeing from Bill Keane.
Desceased ghostly grandpa who had been portrayed in earlier Keane works as sort of benevelont watcher from beyond the grave is now portrayed as this dammed wraith, who clings to Keane's family, lest he await his fate in hell, tormenting the family as a faded shade who will not rest in piece.
Also disturbing and equally inexplicable was the now violent appearence of Not-Me and IdaKnow. Whereas they're previous actions could be dismissed as juvinille hi-jinx, things often attributed to one of the Keane children, their increasing desire to commit sociopathic acts rather struck as out of character, including the mysterious broken vase near Billy & Jeffrey's indoor basketball game, the beating death of PJ, the unneccessarily brutal sodomization of two of the other children. This is not the mischevious spirits I used to know!
I can't hardily recommend it.
RonReagan@Ranch666.com from Santa Barbara , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 1 out of 5 stars>
Anyone have a neutron bomb they could spare?
The Family Circus makes me wish I still had a mind. Sometimes.
A reader from Interstate 81, Virginia. , March 7, 1999 <Picture: 2 out of 5 stars>
How Thel Got Her Groove Back
This is undoubtably the most turgid examination of the Keane household ever printed by a 'reputable' publisher. "Frightmare?" Indeed. Jeffy's curious awakening in his mother's personal polygon of deceit and desire strikes at the very fabric of four-bedroom colonial living. I felt roughed up and pantsed by Mr. Keane, who obviously knows how to turn a line of ink into a hip pocket or a dog's leg. The "Dolly gallery" section should just be glued together and never see the illumination of a reading lamp or a flashlight held between one's knees under bedcovers. It's only a matter of time before the Catholic Church will take a stand on this book, a book that decries the change from the Latin Mass and fish on Friday. And don't let your kids view the flip-film on the bottom of the pages. Abominable.
ItsMyMind@Mr.questionmark.com from Carmen, Sandiago , March 6, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Frightmaretastic!!!
What can I say, Bil has done it again. I don't think I can read King or Koontz without thinking about this book. I have long been a fan of horror...and books, horror books, and out of all the others, this one best captures...my friend's psychosis and fall into the insanity of the human soul.
The story unravels as Jeffy, forced to live among people who don't recognize his genius, starts to become haunted by ghosts and spirits. The dead wraiths, namely Ida Know and Not Me, start plauging Jeffy's waking dreams until he can no longer endure the visions of gore, despair, and debauchery present in his household as well as the disturbing images the phantoms send him.
Alas, he finds out too late that his aluminum foil hat is useless against the psychic onslaught, but is saved when he can adjust the wave frequency of his sweet sweet hair to block out the undead. There is a climactic battle with the Frightmaster, but as Jeffy wins, he also realizes that the Lord of Fear had made him stab Barfy the dog with long sharp sissors.
The dystopic ending has Jeffy dragged away to solitary confinement in a mental institution, much like...my friend, and is eventually given a laptop with a network connection.
Praise be to the Laughing One, but this is a good book. You MUST read it!
william@keane.net from Keaneston, AZ , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The best Family Circus book ever!!!
Having been a longtime fan of Bil Keane's wonderful and wholesome Family Circus cartoons, I have to say that "I Had A Frightmare!" has to be my favorite off all the books. I hurt my sides from laughing. I doubt Bil Keane will ever top himself. I would give this book 10 stars if I could.
Garth Brooks, gbrooks@delusionalPadreWannabes.com from currently, San Diego , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Wher y'all from?
Hey, why ain't no one in the chat room? Ain't this the Shania Twain fan club? or did I click on the Oak Ridge Boys by mistake? What's all this stuff about tents?
How 'bout dem Cowboys!? Oh wait, they suck these days. Sorry. How 'bout dem Longhorns!
Wilhelmina Gutta-Percha (wiggy@columbia.edu) from New York, NY , March 1, 1999
The Return Of Uncle Roy
Burb noir legend Bil(l) Keane returns with a typically blunt and rapacious dissecting of childhood trauma. The puritanical repression of white-dominated society, the fear-of-other that drives so much of a child's actions, the tremulous anxiety of puberty; all are laid bare by Keane's edged glare.
As ever, Keane uses the fictional nuclear family (an eroding concept, artfully satirized even as it was conceived by none other than Keane himself) as his palette and model. The Uber-Mater presence of Mommy, remaining an eternal, buxom and distinctly pert 30ish, echoes within our collective unconscious as our own, ever-beautiful mother. The draconian, all-seeing presence of Daddy, with his blank stare and deceptive softness; even the canid meta-presence of Barfy drags us kicking and screaming into a dark twin-bed stinking of urine and fear.
But it is the secretive, dark presence of Uncle Roy that holds the most horror for us as readers; forever in possession of all that is dark and terrifying about the occult, Uncle Roy seems always to know wher, indeed, the tent is pitched, and, moreover, possess the eerie ability to discern whut it is that put it there. A viscid sensuality pervades Uncle Roy's presence, and Dolly's adoration of the forbidden masculinity embodied by Uncle Roy will surely be explored by Keane in later works.
Clive Barker is rumored to have been a student of Keane's, and as recently as 1990 Keane was linked romantically with Canadian romance novelist Margaret (Mags) Atwood; both the darkness of Barker and the influence of Atwood's sunny visions of motherhood and womanly bondage can be traced from and within Keane's own work.
Bravo for the reigning Generalissimo of Burb Noir; may be forcibly regress us many more times in years to come.
A reader from Cambridge, MA , February 27, 1999
A less than inspired deconstuction of Freud's early work
In Frightmare, avant-novelist Bil(l) Keane turns the post-modern lens on Freud's "Dreams and the Unconscious." By utilizing both the traditional Oedipal imagery AND various pop culture icons (Elvis, Joanne Worley, Ed Gein, and Trixie from "Speed Racer") Keane shows the self-replicating nature of the relationship between man's subconscius and the faux-cultural society which he has created.
However, much of this content is highly derivative of Jenny Holzer's early "gravestone" series and the graphical layout harkens back to R. Crumb's series of Derrida strips from the 1980's comic book "Weirdo." Given the timing of this work, appearing as it does in the post-post-modern era, many of Keane's most salient ideas have been discussed, deseminated, and deconstructed by such diverse intellects as Wes Craven, Madonna, and Jerry Springer. An amusing diversion, but not much new for the well-read avant-gardist.
A reader from Dumpers, AL , February 25, 1999
Funtastic!
If you liked "Mommy, Barfy's Barfing!" you'll love "I Had a Frightmare!" Me and the Mrs. just love all of those cute little things those cute little kids say! The only thing we didn't like was all of that stuff in the middle about what a horrible, mean person Charles Schulz is and how he can't believe that anyone would like that stupid Dilbert comic and how he'd like to see that little Cathy woman burned alive one day. Hey Bil lighten up!
Mr.?@fffunt.com from Cunnlitiville, IN , February 24, 1999
Not as good as Keanes prior work: 'Season of Blood'
Unlike the the previous title, showing the hatered and trials of war torn Rawanda, Keane's newest book approaches, but doesn't followthrough on the gritty realism of his past work.
Unlike the war documentary, 'I had a Frightmare' features the sad autobiographical antics of the Keane family in full bloody detail. And while the realism, gore, and the slow spiral descent into madness are present in every photograph and illustration, the only charachter that the readers develop any sympathy towards is poor Jeffy.
A reader from Craigsville, Va. , February 22, 1999 <Picture: 1 out of 5 stars>
Not Keane's best work
A frightmare? Indeed. Imagine a compendium of Mr. Keane's rightfully admired work WITHOUT the inclusion of either Not Me or Ida Know, next to the long-deceased Grampa Keane, America's funniest and most-beloved paranormal entities. Have the so-called "scientific" community gotten to Mr. Keane? Is the title of this collection a knowing jab at the paranormal, perhaps done under great duress by an artist scared for his ability to continue publishing... or even his life? The mind boggles.
A reader from Wher, VT , December 30, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Roll Over Yogi Berra, Tell Casey Stengal The News!
How is it possible that one person could come up with so many drop-dead hysterical malapropisms? The brilliant and inventive Bil Keane has done it again. I laughed so hard when I frist saw the word "Frightmare" that I was very glad for the existance of the Depends product. Hey, Bil, go easy on us next time!
A reader from Arizona , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Whoa, I'm tippin' my chair back in a fun read of trick play!
This book's hilarious exploits proves that even the Keane family is dysfunctional! I enjoyed the way Keane was able to put a different Spinn on every day occurances. The only down side to the book is the fact that Jeffy is in 95% of the cartoons. Who would pass up on buying this book...NOT ME!
A reader from Wisconsin , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Fun for the whole family!
I, too, love the Family Circus. The Keanes are in for quite an adventure when, on one of thier many camping trips, they suddenly have a problem with the tent! It's a long, frustrating night, and no one is a happy camper, especially Jeffy, until Uncle Roy stops by and shows them just what they need to hold the tent wher it is. A wonderful book!
A reader from Dallas, USA , November 3, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Just about the gosh-darndest fun I've had all year!
I loved this book so much that I bought copies for my whole family! I especially loved the panels about holding the tent wher it was, and Uncle Roy's visit. Highly recommended!
Daddy's Cap Is on Backwards
Avg. Customer Review: ; Number of Reviews: 29
The publisher, Andrew McMeel , March 7, 1999
Experience the wonder
The rave reviews Bil Keane has received for "Daddy's Cap Is On Backwards" speak for themselves! This book obviously has something for everyone, and we are very proud to have a renaissance man like Bil bringing enlightenment and controversy to this important medium.
Don't forget to buy more of the startling books in the series!
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Customer Comments
John_Hughes@time.com from Sydney, Australia , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The Honore Daumier of Fin de Sciecle America
While I have read with interest the incisive literary analysis of other reviewers regarding this book... the main point is the art.Bill Keane's savage pen and unflinching eye have given us Updike country as a visual hell from which one can't look away.
PJ, Billy and Dolly.... sad thalidomide victims doomed to inherit the mutants mantle. And just look at Barfy.. this poor creature has obviously suffered hideous genetic mutations due to toxic leaching into the backyards and hedgerows of suburban America.
This is the family that never moved from the Love Canal; in fact they can't or possibly refuse to see the wasteland they wander through. The savage caricature that Mr. Keene indulges in with his hideously swollen children and deformed dogs accentuate our discomfort until we are forced to look away and in looking away look inside ourselves for the truth.
It is this subtle touch that makes Mr. Keene the most subversive artist in America today. With a veiled agenda and a mordant wit... he seems to campaign tirelessy to force us to raise our eyes from the printed page and examine the world at large.
A stunning tour de force.
Lady Diana Spencer (mercedes_lady@hotmail.com) from London, England , March 6, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
"Daddy's Cap" a Y2K thriller you can't put down
In "Daddy's Cap", writer Bil Keane explores the chaos of the coming millenium by comparing and contrasting 1999 American culture with the idyllic life of a two-dimentional cartoon family. Little Billy and Dolly, protagonists in this text, represent purity, tranquility, innocence. Yet, even these children, the poetic "seiten weissen" (blank pages), are not without flaw.
All of the characters are ostendibly obese, thus they each are stuggling - albeit internally - with various body image issues. Portly Dolly is viewed as a cherubic plaything by her brother, Jeffy. Even her name becomes a descriptive label, limiting her life accomplishments (who would go to a doctor named 'Dolly'?), but not in her own mind. "Daddy's Cap" is about just that dichotomy of "ability vs. accomplishment".
Bil Keane, whose "keen" sense of humor has subtly enthralled people of two generations, breaks away from this pattern and sounds a note of dissonance in the dark, brooding ending. A freakish Y2K doomsday subplot sends shivers down the reader's back: the ghoulish death of Barfy the dog in a riding mower mishap, a Y2K glitch shutting down Mommy's credit cards, an airplane disaster. Even when the Family Circus characters build a survival shelter (with a "Swiss Family Robinson"-like tree house), the underlying theme of dark destiny moves this thriller along and ties it together.
Buy it, and you will know why this book is a compelling read. Nonstop action from page one means that you will read it in one sitting. WARNING: don't begin to read it if you don't have time to finish it. It is that good. 5 stars.
A reader from Houston, The Republic of Texas , March 3, 1999
Keane is too doctrinaire
I think that many of the reviewers have missed the point that Bil(l) Keane has been following the same outdated left-wing intellectual formula since the start of the Cold War. Each of his one panel cartoons are so filled with subtexts and post-Leninist commentary on the decay of capitalism that one is almost compelled to shout, "Hey, get with the rest of the world. Socialism is dead." Trying to pawn off its virtues in the form of a benevolent family is a little too obvious. One is reminded of the Socialist Realism school portraying Stalin (good old Joe the Georgian) dancing and patting the little children on the head. I feel for the FC (FC was the old State department license plate code for the old USSR (coincidence, I think not)) kids, forced to spout obscure, neo-Brezhnevick sayings through pouty lips when they could just be watching South Park. At least Uncle Roy is a reminder of Beria and serves as the one reminder of the failure of perfectionism.
A reader from Exit 315, Virginia. , March 3, 1999
Circus Maximus and the Truth Hertz Donut
To paraphrase the Times review of Mathew Brady's photographs of the dead of Antietam, if Mr. Keane has not lain the swollen corpses of our suburban PTO meetings and cries of "Not Me" at our breakfast tables, he has certainly done the closest thing to that. The elderly, ferocious Bil holds the syncophantic mirror under the unfrosting nose of post-Seinfeld Amerika and declares all mores defunct and expurgated. Mr. Keane follows the travails of a country without mystery, without science, without theatre; through a morass of deeply etched black dotted lines. Yeats said that it was better to feel thorns than never see a rose, and this turgid sampler of Mr. Keane's epic sesquiology is certainly a crown of thorns - - a crown of thorns, on backwards, and most likely marinated in pisghetti sauce. As Ebert's character of Zeman Barzells would put it, it is indeed Mr. Keane's Happening, and it freaks us outre.
clehmanhaupt@nytimes.com from New York , March 3, 1999
A penetrating look at the American psyche
Bil Keane's work is an amazing pastische of modern angst. From Thelma's silent scream, and her subsequent haircut, to Dad's constant fear of aging, this is a portrait of a uniquely American hell, one from which escape is impossible.
Keane's depecition of a childhood filled with conflict and rage, the near sexual banter between Dolly and Jeffy, their constant teasing and bragging shows the perils of sex among the young, a land where ever blood ties are not a barrier.
Mom and Dad are the prototypical patriarchs of the dysfunctional American family. Their only talk centers around their children, yet they feel increasing estranged from them. Whatever sexual interests these people have has been submerged in the interests of a fragile family unity. When they do express their sexuality, it is of a desperate, clinging sort, where they express their desperation in frantic lovemaking. Using sex to explore the outer regions of their emotional torment.
This book moves the work of the early 80's novelists Bret Easton Ellis and Jay McInerney into the complex and troubling dilemmas of moving into the staid middle class suburban life, where those desperately clinging to the verities of middle class life and middle management are the only things holding the fragile family unit together.
It is the best of Arthur Miller set in the the staid, seemingly tranquil middle class.
Daddy's Cap on Backwards is an illustrated glance into the dark soul of the American family. A look at a doomed world of frustrated parents and adolescent sexuality, in a moral climate reaching Tennessee Williams Cat on a Hot Tin Roof set in the cyber world of the late 1990's.
gleth@idt.net from Brooklyn, NY , March 3, 1999
Castration or De-CAP-itation?
Not since the work of Jane Gallop has the phallus been so masterfully deconstructed. Representing the final blow to the Nom du Pere, the title "Daddy's Cap is On Backwards" suggests the power of the infantilized Other to name back while transforming the work of representation itself. Indeed, Keane reverses a crucial scene from David Copperfield: whereas young David is forced to stand with his back to his peers, faceless, with a sign naming his crime pinned to his back, here Jeffy and friend offer their "backs" and "backsides" in subversive rage. They reveal the truth about the phallus: not merely veiled, or "capped," it is in fact on "backwards," which is to say that the power of the phallus rests ultimately on the subjugation of what is anatomically "behind" it. Brims aft, Jeffy and friend suggest a different way to read: the anus, like an asterisk, points the feminist and queer reader in a different direction.
sheltone@yahoo.com from New York, NY , March 3, 1999
An unflinching look at Realism in the New Millenia
Wow! What else can be said about Bil Keane's unflinching look at the problems of the forthcoming millenium through the emotionally violent squared circle of "Family Circus." And what a circus life has become with the antiheros "Not Me" and "Ida Know" running rampant through our lives as though there were no repercussions. The sadness of PJ is apparent through his "Waiting for Godot"-like refusal to speak, almost Communist in its nature. Daddy's sudden appearance and disappearance through the early days of PJ's existence surely account for some of the depression inherent in every last strip. The relationship each character has with Grandfather would be hysterical if it wasn't so emotionally shattering. And Mother with her recent quest for a new hairstyle represents all that is wrong with nineties materialism and the century in general. This crass me-first mentality is apparent in Dolly and Billy's continued behavior of not learning to share, no matter what the cost to those around them, as well as themselves. The humiliations they have piled on Barfy the dog are too numerous to list here. We can only pray the rest of the world can learn from their mistakes in time. God save us all.
A reader from Arlington, VA , March 2, 1999
Mort Walker meets Hubert Selby Jr.
While I can understand the thoughtful and incisive comments other readers have posted about DADDY'S CAP IS ON BACKWARDS, I'm afraid I just found Keane's unflinching one-panel approach to gritty kitchen-sink social realism a bit much to take. Beneath the anodyne surface and the Soylent Green gags, Keane's real point is much like Sartre's -- namely, that hell is other people. I also don't think it's stretching things to compare the "Jeffy" series of panels to Todd Solondz's HAPPINESS, or even to Hubert Selby Jr's LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN. Clearly, Keane shares those artists' essential belief that once we become sexual beings, we are damned; that "the innocence of childhood" is a fool's paradise that is best appreciated through a nostalgic haze. In drawing after drawing, Jeffy shows the signs of a painfully emerging self-knowledge that may mirror Keane's awareness of his own mortality. "Ida Know" and "Not Me" look more than ever like classically Freudian denial mechanisms, as Jeffy tries desperately to put off the initiation into dreary, hopeless adulthood that he knows is looming ever closer.
In short, I would have liked DADDY'S CAP a lot more if I had been able to restrain my own hard-fought tears from rolling down my cheeks as I turned the pages. Some truths are just too much for most of us to handle, and Keane knows those truths intimately.
pburnett@agconsult.com from Atlanta, GA , March 2, 1999
A Gaze into the Abyss
We do not simply read "Daddy's Cap is on Backwards", we get the uncomfortable feeling that, like a single, unblinking eye or an invasive camera lens, Keane's brilliant strip is looking back at us, taking in all that is prosaic and trivial about our lives and spinning it on its axis.
The cover itself is disturbing. Daddy's cap is indeed on backwards - he stares ahead, eyes blank behind his Coke-bottle lenses, the scene awash with the harsh, bright colors so often tortuously rendered by Keane's brush. Daddy doesn't notice the darkling sky, the dying leaves in the bushes behind him, Billy and Jeffy underfoot. He is drawn ever-forward, zombie-like into the future.
I give this book high praise, but I don't know if I will be able to read it again. It will be a long time before I will be able to rid myself of these images.
A reader from los angeles, ca , March 2, 1999
cartoons are real good!!!@@!
i dont know what you people are talking about but these cartoons are good and dolly is mean but pj is the best funny kid
A reader from Atlanta, Georgia , March 2, 1999
Bill Keane is a menace to Somalia
While Bill Keane may enjoy the momentary spotlight with his "rock 'em shock 'em" stle and urbane wit, he's gonna land hisself in hot water with his "racy" remarks on somalia and somalians as a whole. Why in the name of god would Bill Keane have everything the somalian beggar say printed in unreadable gibberish? And why of all things make him a cripple beggar? Furthermore, where those nunchucks he was carrying, or was it a bonge? I just don't get this humor anymore. Mary worth never had bonges on her cartoon. Heck, matlock doesn't even have bongs on his show, and his shoes are real nice. I'm very upset a bout the granpa character too. Giving an otherwise loveable character like granpa an unholly nervous tick just broke my heart. And the drawing was shocking! To have him barely clothed in front of the children, and his hands shaking right near his "you know what". He looked like some kind of sicko. Keane used his talents to display the leathery maw of and old sick man!The closeup of his mouth was too much for me. I'll go back to mary worth if this keeps up. Why, I wet myself I was so angry.
A reader from Los Angeles , March 1, 1999
Genius
I always hated Family Circus. Boy do I feel stupid now.
A reader from College Park, Maryland , March 1, 1999
Economical Comedy
The several dollars spent on this handy little book is a lot cheaper than the $1,654.79 needed to collect all the cartoons contained inside from their original newspaper runs. All your favorites are here: from "Mom, I stepped on a nail!" to "Mom, I stepped on a nail again!" to "Mom, I stepped on a nail '78!" to "Mom, my lockjaw continues to worsen!" to "Mom, surely Soviet Man is superior to Joe Six-Pack." This collection also includes the cartoons the defeatist Keane wrote during the Spring of '42, when he was convinced that the Japanese would soon conquer the United States. Billy's Shinto shrine, and his stirring oration on the Meiji period, will bring joy and wonder to even the most hardened patriot. This is not to say Keane was a collaborator; to the contrary, when the defeat of the Japanese was assured, the Family Circus crew immediately returned to the jingoistic hijinks that had been their trademark during the long guerilla war in the Phillipines following America's defeating of the Spanish in 1898. Progressives should fear not, however, for the Family Circus has always advocated forward looking policies like forced sterlization and the confinement of the insane and dysfunctional to dark facilities so as not to disturb the producing classes. What we'll really remember, however, is not the politics, but the love; as Billy declared in 1934, "Even though Daddy lost his job, I still love him, only not as much as before." And we love you, Billy.
Monty Markum from Steamwood, IL , March 1, 1999
First Looks Can Be Deceiving
On the surface, Keane's work appears to be nothing more than a superficial, lighthearted romp through some sort of mytho-realistic version of the American nuclear family. A light chuckle, or "aw-shucks" is about all one would expect to find in the reaction to this underappreciated giant's work.
But delve below, into the murky depths of the subconcious. Dare, if you will, to read between the frames, to see around the picture-bubble world and one finds a dramatic, painful portrait of the American family, caught in the jaws of the bear-trap that is 20th century capitalism.
How else can one interpret these children, in this "Family Circus" who blame their failures and malicious doings on the ghostly "Notme" - a comical representation of the oppressed masses of the disenfranchised of 20th Century America. Like their parents, amasing material goods in a suburban wasteland, the children foist off their troubles on the invisible "Notme", just as father and mother leave the invisible future generations to deal with the fruits of their despoilation of American culture.
Some may call Mr. Keane a mediocre cartoonist, but not I. I have seen the truth as he meant it to be seen.
brothernotme@paradise.com from Remote Armed Compound, TX , March 1, 1999
A Manifesto For The New Millenium
My brothers and sisters, the time has come, the stars are right, and our Bible has arrived. The publishing of Brother Keane's lastest holy work will be remembered as a day of holy ecstacy, fasting, and self-flaggration with special twigs. Praise the Maker for his Divine Inspiration! Death to the unbelievers, the unwashed, the unroundheaded! Eternally shall our pantheon be that of the Great Family Circus.
A reader from San Francisco, Californai , March 1, 1999
Postmodernism and postcolonialism in post-fun Keanism
Spiralling in the cyclical world of 'Family Circus' I'm sure we can all identify with the trenchant themes of post-modernity and postcolonialism redolent in Keane's latest feather in the "Caps". Motifs of power surging out from underneath when children mock the order in a carnivalesque topsy-turvey 'play' found in the revolutionary circular 'frame' around the comic. Symbolism and text fuse creating a semiotics of order and chaos, play and work, the 'cap' and the naked head. Keane has subversively undermined the empiricist color/race dichotomy by insisting on full-color publication, much like William Blake's "Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence". I wait with baited breath for the next addition to Keanism.
Wilhelmina Lidke-Shaeffer, Ph.D (shaeffer.w@columbia.edu) from New York, NY , March 1, 1999
Deconstructing Jeffy
The reigning master of the art form often referred to as "burb noir" returns with a scathing polemic on race relations in a present-day American hurtling towards an Apocalyptic millenium.
Taking his inspiration from such social woes as the proliferation of gangland behavior in Omaha, Nebraska (one must surely wonder if the American heartland will spawn a melanin-enhanced Bernhard Goetz for our day) and the growing Disconnect between government and citizen, Bil Keane accurately chronicles the shoals of negotiated hostility that comprise America today.
Even the title, wryly echoing both fear of Government (surely there is no more authoritarian "Daddy" for any of us) and the hip-hop, Plains-Gangsta culture, shows Keane's acerbic wit. As American culture has evolved, Keane's sensibilities have kept pace. Even Oedipal concepts fail to escape Keane's pen; in the brutal "Jeffy Has An Accident", we discover the dark side of Mommy's shapeliness, and journey into the madness of a child consumed by a lust he can neither comprehend nor control.
Every American owes it to themselves to raptly journey through Keane's reality, and leave reluctantly, wondering whether, in fact, the ghosts of Keane's harshly realist renderings are with us all; truly, Ida Know.
cquirky@yahoo.com from Oxnard , March 1, 1999
Word and Image Meld in Psychotropic Zeitgeist
Using barely 10% of the vocabulary of a Tom Robbins or even a Kurt Vonnegut (not Jr. since daddy died which is part of the subtext of Keane's symbolic reference to "Daddy's Cap" and its being backwards much like the Abby Road album cover that revealed that Paul was dead which was revealed in the text of the lyrics by being played backwards--but there is not room in this brief review to trace all the multicultural strands of meaning captured in Keane's tortuous keenings.) Anyway, back to the kids. Kid's today! Does anybody know the ins and outs of their little psyches better than Bill (or is it Bil?) Keane? I don't think so. And in this seminal book, Keane "pop's a Cap" into the heart of every granny and gramps with his heart-rending renditions of common everyday cuteness grandkids-style. The subliminal message, of course, is "Enjoy them while you can for tomorrow you may die." Great book!
A reader from Washington, DC , February 28, 1999
Oddly dystopian
Despite accolades from other readers, this book's treatment of social interaction rituals struck me as puerile and frankly ludicrous. The cash-and-carry theory crowd may find much to crow about here, but in my view his observations are reductive and highly predictable. How much originality is there, after all, in simply reversing the hat and then declaring it "on backwards"? I don't mean to sound cranky, but for my money you are better off with Roz Chast.
Windom Earle(harvsatan@aol.com) from Twin Peaks,Washington - USA , February 27, 1999
His Cap Maybe Backward,But He Sees The Way!
BIL KEANE has truely taken the Family Circus to the next level,with this brilliant and positively witty tome. From his sly in-joke with the books title,"Daddy's Cap", an obvious nod to the DEVO quote,"Dying Under Daddy's Cap"(Or perhaps more perversely,Devo saluting Keane.)~ to the humourous last page strip, "Route Taken By Jeffys Funeral Precession". This is Keane at maximum overdrive! His stories innovate and move us all. Who can forget inspirations such,"Mommy's Dykie Hairdo"? or "Billy Gets Ringworm"? Does it get any better than this? Hot Dog,Maynard,IT DOES!! A Family Circus? No my friends,its a Rip Snortin'Dardevil-Death-Defying-Not-For-The-Squeamish-Trip To Insanity!!! And you'll want to buy the ticket and take the ride..again and again and again!! Dolly asks,"Daddy why is there an ear ring on your chest?"...and she speaks for us all. Why is our world so "silly"? You will ponder life a little less,after this spanking good read! Just ask Jeffy,he's had many spankings,"For Gosh Sakes!!Read this book before my Daddy beats me again!!". What a little imp!! So sit back in the family station wagon,have a rootbeer,and let Daddy & Mommy and the whole gang take you for the most flip ride of your life!!! Who would want to miss this much fun?? Ida Know! Notme!!
A reader from Pittsburgh, PA, USA , February 27, 1999
lexical and graphical interstices indeed break bricks
Keane, stubborn iconoclast of a nearly Kantian refusal to deny subjectivity any positionality other than a rather liminial objectivity, again bewilders with an assault of semic puns, abstractions, and a keen sense of self-reproduction, likely intending to bewilder and intoxicate those still thinking from little Billy's place of exteriority. Keane allows the drama between innenwelt and umwelt to unfold through a lexicon of hard-hitting metonymic battles ranging from our simple confusion at the relationship between cap and daddy to our mystification at 'le represente deplace' and how these intersubjective formations relate to the primal scene so clearly played and replayed through the flows of desire precisely contextualized within Keane's shrewd depiction of those radically disjunctive breaks some would so vaguely label as relatively autonomous.
A reader from Brooklyn, NY , February 26, 1999
American Werther Sets Suburbia Aflame
For decades the raw, plangent heart of the Sunday funnies, the familiar circular frame of Keane's Family Circus has long served as the demon-lens aimed straight into the increasingly decentralized and prurient soul of the American suburban milieu, an aperture through which we can almost smell the alcaloid, claustrophobic air of Lillian B. Rubin's "worlds of pain," described evocatively in her classic study of lower-middle-class sociology. Nonetheless, the tragic mainstream apparatchiks casually and systematically dismiss Keane's ur-comic as either a dangerous pastiche of retrograde longing for a racialist, theocratic center, or, more often, as an intolerable vestige of the kind of canned, sanitized, hopelessly outdated kitsch found in the tiki-torch grottoes of of Eisenhower's cold-war TV-land, inhabited by programmatic Audie Murphy horse operas and the June Taylor dancers kicking in unison to Glenn Miller's televisionary obsequies. Recently, an otherwise astute friend remarked with incredulity and a hint of outrage that Family Circus continues to be syndicated nationally. That flash of anger is the key to understanding Keane's persistent trumping of the American booboisie. Undeniably, the Family Circus strip is grindingly banal. Mommy's search for the dog-collar or Jeffy's interminable perorations on the subject of pie are lethal enough to paralyze a pouncing lynx. But to borrow a term from art critic Arthur C. Danto, Family Circus is a premier example of "reflexive art"— our reaction to it, and our desire to revise and even obliterate it, tells us more about ourselves than of the author's formal intent. As is the case in Noh, Keane's comic strip is animated by the familiar, predictable banality of the office party, the PTA meeting, the repetitive ritual of our own anxious endearments and the sex act itself. We are uncomfortable but we cannot look away, so we continue to gaze at Family Circus like those gathered around a car wreck gazing blankly at their own mortality, for unlike "Prince Valiant" or "Snoopy," it has too-truthfully shown us our own lives. "Daddy's Cap is on Backwards" takes Keane's guerilla-texts from the sleepy woods of the Sunday paper to the streets, and it's as though a drowsing 1000-foot serpent has uncoiled itself at last. Like all American phenomena that begin in the vernacular and suddenly submerge the culture in chaos--Presley's Sun recordings, Rauschenberg's furious collages, Welles' "Touch of Evil" come to mind as lesser examples--"Daddy's Cap is on Backwards" is a meta-event that offers a rare and genuine glimpse of the cyclopic Logos, altering our landscape by organizing it around itself. Debating its contents would be futile; no amount of critical discourse can pacify its matterhorn of rage, or mitigate the visceral shock it will exert on a nation huddling in the dawn of the angry red sun of Y2K. Drop the scales from your eyes and read this book. You have it coming.
CameronFerguson@hotmail.com from Boone, NC , February 26, 1999
Watchout James Carville!!!!
There is a new kid on the block and he writes like he is mad dog in pursuit of truth. Mr. Keane has captivated the attention of the Great unwashed masses with his new diatribe on the massive scandal that plagues Wasshington, D.C. "Daddy why does that women wear a beret?" is perhaps the best quote to summarize the childlike inquisitiveness of our youth!!!
A reader from Chicago , February 24, 1999
A stunning and insightful critique of hip-hop culture!
Bil Keane has alway been known for his ability to display rapier sharp wit while skewering the more excessive aspects of American culture. With "Daddy's Cap Is on Backwards" Keane has reached a new level.
Serious and scholarly enough for even graduate level sociology, urban studies, and African-American studies courses, "Daddy" will entertain the general reader with its witty insights concerning the pervasivness of the now global reach of Hip-Hop culture.
A must for anyone who wants to learn more about about how popular culture is changing the face of America and the world!
A reader from Norman, Oklahoma , February 24, 1999
Hilarious and bracing in its self-examination
While the perspective of Keane as crossbreed between new journalist and contemporary social realist finds much support in the text of this novel, delving deeper into its construction reveals a subtext rooted in a much older philosophical vein. The juxtaposition of the notion of "backwardness" and the visuals of mundaneness is an attempt at the deconstruction of Sartre's original project of the systematization of the existentialist movement. While many contend that Sartre's attempt to force the notions of absurdity and being and time into a finite defined system killed the original essence of existentialism, Keane has proven that a self-aware dialectic of the absurd can rekindle the original existential realization that inspired Kierkegaard and his adherents. However, the recurring symbolism of the backward-hat-that-is-not-the-true-backward-hat at times becomes ponderous and loses its impact of absurdity, not unlike the human condition when viewed through lenses of everydayness. Keane needs to expand his symbolic vocabulary if he is to truly express his resolution of Heidegger's dilemma without degenerating into a trivialization of the uniqueness of humanity's temporal experience.
Corey Kosak (kosak+bil@cs.cmu.edu) from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , February 23, 1999
The exercise of Reason DEPENDS on the individual's choice!
Ever since the untimely death of Ayn Rand in 1982, this country has lacked a moral leader, a powerful voice that can rise above the crowd and simply say "Reason is man's only proper judge of values and his only proper guide to action. The proper standard of ethics is: man's survival qua man." At last, that void has been filled. From the moment Jeffy refuses to eat the welfare cheese placed by Mommy in his "mackerooni", we realize that we have embarked on an extraordinary journey, an apocalyptic deathmatch of moral paradigmata from which only one can emerge intact. See Billy nearly starve after being tricked into delivering newspapers whose editorial slant he despises. Feel Dolly's anguish as she invents a new kind of steel with the potential to revolutionize the railroad industry, only to have that breakthrough suppressed by those in power, whose only ambition is to maintain the status quo. Struggle with Mommy over the book's central philosophical question: is breastfeeding PJ a form of charity or of slavery? In Daddy's Cap, Bil Keane succeeds where countless others have failed: he provides insightful and philosophically rigorous solutions to the open problems posed in Nicomachean Ethics and in Atlas Shrugged. Only one question remains: are you intellectually honest enough to accept Bil's unflinching portrayal of reality?
patrickbateman@earthlink.net from New York City , February 16, 1999 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
A collection of torrid drawings about childhood and family
Since his debut with The Family Circus in 1960, Bil Keane has been America's literary authority on the lives of the infinitely wealthy. His works are moralizing satires mixed with a great deal of autobiography. His landscape is populated by fashion aficionados that are bookish enough to read the pages of GQ, but show little recognition of the works of Tolstoy. These characters are frequently bisexual, which may or may not be due to the fact that Keane is bisexual himself. Violence is common to the lives of these fine young gentlemen and beauty queens, and so are cocaine and valium. Keanes' new book, Daddy's Cap Is On Backwards, has received both critical attention and vehement attacks. The attacks arise from the violent treatment and murderous behavior that Jeffy Keane, the main character, exhibits in his interaction with women. Defenders point out that more men are killed than women. Besides being misogynistic, and I'm not denying that Jeffy is, he's homophobic, racist, self-righteous, and firmly believes in the division of social classes. In other words, he's the living embodiment of that palnidrome that the poet Amiri Baraka observed in the word Love, Evol, or evil to use the correct spelling. In satire, I believe, realism is sacrificed for caricature. Being a conservative myself, and I'm rather embarrassed to be one, because liberalism is the dominating force in literature, I find that Keane has formed a stereotype that emerges more out of liberal propaganda than actual reality. Jeffy is more of an hallucination than human. Jeffy doesn't seem to harbor any motivation for his killings; it seems that his bizarre executions are for no discernible reason. It has been suggested that Jeffy secretly abhors the world he lives in; so his response is to destroy anything of aesthetic value. Evidence to support this theory is not only in his violent actions, but the fact that he has a painting hanging upside down in his apartment. Jeffy clearly has no sense of aesthetics, or if he does, which is more likely, he did that on purpose to deface and confuse the meaning of the painting. In Jeffy's review of the pop group Genesis, he complains that under Peter Gabriel's influence, they were too artsy. Jeffy is true to himself, only in these passages where he contemplates popular music, because that world is not of the glamourous landscape that he is trying to get out of. Other critics may disagree with me that popular music is not glamourous, but to me, it's not of the same aesthetic quality as fashion. It has always been unclear to me, exactly what Keane as a cartoonist actually thinks. On a recent interview with Vanity Fair magazine, he declined to tell what his sexual preference was. With respect to his privacy, this is typical of Keane. He's a master of moral ambiguity. Other critics may understand his views, like for instance, he comes off as a liberal in various ways, but he doesn't in others. Jeffy explains his political views at a dinner party at his girlfriend's house which amounts to a fusion of the platforms of both parties. While most Americans don't necessarily agree with all the opinions of their political party, their opinions were more defined that Jeffy's. A central problem that lies in Keane's work is that he needs to believe in something clearly defined in order to be a satirist. An arguement could be made that nothing is clearly defined; this is exactly why I think satire is a limited genre to work in. With his autobiographical tendencies, Keane compromises satire too. Social realism cannot be blended with satire because it confuses the reader. It just doesn't make sense. I mean, is Keane criticizing bisexuality as immoral or is he just reporting what he's seen? That's unclear. I might not be the ideal reader that he wants to have, but it seems to me that an author can't make a satirical character autobiographical because it muddles the purpose of it condemning the evils of society. Professors of literature and highly acclaimed writers say Keane is a satirist, but it is in social realism that Keane's talent really lies. In that same article in Vanity Fair, Keane admits to a friendship with Joan Didion. Her influence upon his work is easily recognizable. Didion, who is from the literary school of New Journalists that believed journalism would take the place of novels. A certain aspect of this, which Keane follows, is that he inserts real magazines (GQ and People) and real people such as Tom Cruise in Daddy's Cap Is On Backwards. James Fenimore Cooper got in trouble when he inserted George Washington into one of his novels, and I would say that I cringed when Tom Cruise's name appeared on the a caption. I got used to the fact that the magazines and reviews of contemporary musicians, but beyond that, I thought Keane went too far. Certain fiction like that, and the new journalist's nonfiction novel, I fear, are going to ever be lost to posterity, because the names of the celebrities will go unrecognized in the future. But an arguement could be that Tom Cruise was important to understanding the times. Keane is trying to cram new journalism, social realism, and satire into his work. It doesn't work. Keane succeeds in the comic vein though. His portrayal of businessmen as heartless boring individuals would make Charles Addams. His prose ignites a manic blur of events, with lively conversation even though his characters, frankly have nothing to talk about(But find no fault with him because businessmen wouldn't). Prose like that, even though I'm in the minority, and I sincerely believe this, is as refreshing as the Evian water the characters consume. Jeffy's often excuse for anything is "I have to return some video tapes" and that cracked me up through the whole book. The dirty yarns Jeffy's friends spin, one in particular about a Vassar girl (you'll have to read the book to find out what is is; ladies beware) are reminiscent of what my dad tells me of Henry Miller. These guys are morally decadent, that is obvious, but while Keane achieves cringing which he did with me, especially in the scenes with homeless people, he also makes me chuckle. In other words, I could see Quentin Tarantino making a film out of this. The violent scences in this book are nothing short of creative; picture torturing somebody with a rusted butterknife. Ouch. One scene with lighter fluid and cheese was truely inspired. But I read EC comics along with more literary pursuits so I'm used to this sort of thing. There's no doubt in my mind that Keane created the Giorgio Armani of gore cartoons. Keane is a good writer, he has talent, but he just burst on to the literary scene when he was only 72, so he didn't really have time to perfect his craft. He is an engaging read, but he well, has a central problem making characters that I care about, and mixes two different kinds of writing that I can't see merging. There is really no plot to the book, but I can deal with that, because Faulkner was plotless, John Hawkes is plotless, and their both good novelists, so I don't really care.
A reader from Landfall, Minnesota , January 14, 1999
A frenzied trip, a trick-play on words
Another madcap collection from the author of "Jeffie's Lookin At Me" and dozens of other classics. A special irony in this oeuvre is the running ambiguity twixt hat and head: which in fact is on backwards? You'll be pulling your finger with delight at the antics of Uncle Roy, Not Me, Ida Know, and the chronically late Grandpa Keane. In a series of panels on fishing, culminating in Jeffie's capture of a veritable fresh-water whale, 'Dad' Keane reveals his master baiting techniques. A must-read for those trapped in the ninth circle of heck!
A reader from Craigsville, Va. , December 14, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
This book 'Caps' off a great career
If there's one thing that's not "backwards" in this topsy-turvy world, it's the Family Circus. This paperback compilation of panels from the popular daily comic provides a much-needed dose of little Billy misprononcing words like "gasphetti" and "soylent." While the annual family trip to Uncle Roy's provides the biggest laughs in this book, Keane also touches on a serious theme with his series of provocative milk carton captions. Read this book from cover to cover, and you'll exclaim aloud, "It's good on you, mate!"
A reader from Arizona (Bil Keane's home state!) , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Keane's contemporary, quality cartoons K.O. the competition!
Mama said knock you out! Bil's artwork and sheer zaniness hold the Family Circus wher it is...as the top contender in comics! From "Whoa, I'm trippin'...", to "Soylent Green", to "Uncle Roy"...I haven't had this much fun since my youthful "Goofus and Gallant" days! Who is going to pass up on this treasure of laughs...NOT ME!
A reader from Plano, TX , November 10, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Time stands still, but those rollicking Circus kids never do
Set in its own unique round universe, the Family Circus has been entertaining America for over 30 years. Follow the daily doings of Bil, Thel, their four kids and pets as they experience the joys and laughter of suburban living. Keane's deep insights into the psyche of our times is expressed in easy-to-digest one-liners, throwaway lines, subtle perspective shifts, and cute kiddie malapropisms that will leave you chuckling, then silently wondering.
'Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!'
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 4.5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 5
william@keane.net from Keaneston, AZ , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The best Family Circus book ever!!!
Having been a longtime fan of Bil Keane's wonderful and wholesome Family Circus cartoons, I have to say that "Just Wait Till You Have Children Of Your Own!" has to be my favorite off all the books. I hurt my sides from laughing. I doubt Bil Keane will ever top himself. I would give this book 10 stars if I could.
A reader from Frito, LA. , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 3 out of 5 stars>
Preying on children as propaganda
The now-defunct Mrs. Bombeck was less than PC with her scathing lunge for the urging of familial relations upon minors. No, the teenagers can't wait, can they, and why should they? Using the bulbous-headed Bil Keane illustrations to force a perverse tease of America's youth to "adopt" as it were, even younger victims in this senseless cycle borders on criminal. Mrs. Bombeck's crossoff in so many Dead Pools a few years back may hopefully prevent the recurrence of such abominations. Perhaps, in clinging to Keane iconography, Erma has laid bare the rude awakening her purple prose has given all her readers.
andreaK h (sold@tmbg.org) from Massiveheadtrauma, Illinois , February 27, 1999
An exiguous effort to achieve luke-warm results
Erma Bombeck really struts her stuff in the book "Just wait untill you have children of your own." Written with her own wry sense of humor, I find it an unmatched delight to read. In fact, one of my naughty little obsessions is to peer into neighbors bathroom windows whilst they go about their business. When I'm finished watching them, I leave a copy of the book on their doorsteps. They all absolutely adore it! The nadir of the book, however, is the fact that it was illustrated by Mister Proportion Himself, Bil Keane. I'm not saying that I dislike Keane. I AM saying that anyone in their right minds would dislike him. He makes a mockery of the entire art scene, and is clearly deranged. He tries to compensate for his substandard home life by drawing cartoons with morals circa 1950. He is an absolute nut, and because we as a society have decided to LET HIM BREED, we have ruined our one hope of being toted off this planet by the ever benevolent Gods and Godesses in their thought p owered sub-space ships. Because of Keane, we're all forever tied to this Earth. Five stars, Bil. One for every shattered dream.
pridenprej@aol.com from Melbourne, N.H. , February 25, 1999
Puts the dik back in dikplay!
Fifty or five hundred years from now, some archeologist of knowledge will unearth Erma Bombeck's “Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!” and marvel at its utter weirdness. Its sequence of subjects (Fetish ... Fidelity ... Finding a Physician) will suggest authors who are either mad or possess a very dark sense of humor, while its illustrations will project a bestiary of beefy humanoids with remarkable tumescence. The archeologist will wonder: for what race of creatures could such a manual have been intended?
We don’t have to wait to wonder. It’s for us. Read it and shriek.
“Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!” is not so much about enjoying gay sex as surviving it. Inevitably, the specter of acronyms casts a certain pall across once-joyful texts detailing the fine points of rimming, scat and glory holes. When the first edition of “Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!” appeared in 1977, the worst its readers had to fear was Anita Bryant and the purple prose of Edmund White. Now we need a degree in medical technology to make it to the second date.
A reader from Carmen, Sandiego , February 22, 1999
Wonderful lessons for new parents-to-be
Every father and every mother trembles lest an offspring, in act or thought, should be different from his fellows; and the smallest display of uniqueness in a child becomes the signal for the application of drastic measures aimed at stamping out that small fire of noncompliance by which personal distinctness is expressed.
A reader from Podunck, Iowa , January 26, 1999
A paucity of I.Q. rarely found in the mass market!
I thouroughly enjoyed the puissant wit and readability of Ms. Bombeck's work. She is truly a literary genius. However, the nadir of the book (and it's only low point, to be sure) was the artwork done by a Mister Bil "spank me soundly" Keane, aka Grandma Keane, aka Bubbles "the tongue" McAss (performing every wednesday night at Sud's N' Babes, on 42nd street). His artwork, merely a reflection of his twisted persona, is demeaning to chicks, chinks, japs, wetbacks, etc. I marvel at the fact that the doctors didn't drown him at birth. Learning that such a person could exist in our society today has killed my one last hope of extraterrestrial intervention on our behalf. We're not worthy to hold the keys of the universe if we aren't smart enough to kill this man in his sleep. You screwed me out of my saucer, Keane! I'll never forget it. five stars. One for every shattered dream.
judgeis@yahoo.com from Durham, NC , January 26, 1999
Whoa! This book will trip you into a frenzy!
More educational than the Teletubbies, better illustrated than some refrigerators in households full of kindergartners, 'Just Wait Till You Have Children of Your Own!' will make you want children of your own for your own twisted, perverted pleasures.
Much like poop, this book will keep your sense of humor and family values right wher they are. A must read for the literate and illiterate alike.
These two reviews were previously posted, but mysteriously disappeared on or about January 27, 1999...
A reader from Minnetonka , January 7, 1999 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Pretty good considering how old it is...
This book really seems to have stood the test of time. This despite being hastily rushed back into print by the heartless Keane and Bombeck's greedy estate. Well, I guess Bil has to pay for P.J. to attend Stanford somehow!
The book does a wonderful job of pointing out the little foibles and ironies of everyday life with children, juxtaposing Bombeck's learned writing style with Keane's crude, ameaturish drawings. While Keane's insistence on drawing adult female characters with only one breast was seen as unduly harsh during Bombeck's lifetime, they serve now as a moving tribute to her feistiness and spirit.
This timely reissue points up perhaps the greatest irony of all, as Keane becomes an even wealthier old miser while Bombeck turns slowly into worm meal.
The review below later mysteriously reappeared, hehehe...
mutantdog@aol.com from Planet Earth , December 29, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Immensely enjoyable humorous wisdom about everyday life
When I read this book, I couldn't stop guffawing at Erma Bombeck's incredibly pithy insights and observations about everyday life. This book is easily the most convincing argument for government-sponsored mass sterilization programs I have ever read, other than maybe the Bil Keane series, whose melon-headed cartoon spawn argue strongly for careful genetic screening, at a minimum.
Sing Me a Loveaby?
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 12
A reader from The Family Circus, Newspapers everywhere , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
If you liked Flowers in the Attic, you'll love this book!
Borrowing a chapter from V.C. Andrews, Bil Keane explores the dark world of conditional love in the haunting and unforgettable Sing Me a Loveaby.
As Bil and Thel emotionally distance themselves from their offspring, the reader is left wondering what they have in store for their children who more often then naught are left to fend for themselves, cared for only by their doddering Grandma, a half-psychopath, Munchaseun nightamare who sees visions of her dead battering husband who makes eerie appearances to her throughout the book.
See Jeffrey, Dolly and Billy descend into madness as they create alternate personalities for themselves, living ids if you will in the forms of Notme and Idaknow, who wreck havoc on the Keane household.
Kudos to Keane for the clever title "Sing me a Loveaby" as an homage to "Play Misty for Me". The chilling scene in which Jeffrey chokes his mother, demanding for her to Sing a Loveaby still haunts me today.
5 Stars!
rogerg@u.washington.edu from Seattle, Washington , March 2, 1999
Keane Into the Western Canon!
Greece had Homer and Sappho; Rome, Vergil and Ovid; it is our particularly striking good fortune to witness the comet-like ascent of the genius of Bil Keane, who has rendered unto his own cherished English language what Goethe did for German and Beaudelaire for French, even far outstripping the accomplishments of Pound's linguistic oevre. Who, prior to treasuring "Sing Me A Loveaby?", ever deeply contemplated the etymological links between "love" and "lullaby", both words deriving from a common Sanskrit root "l'uhlan", which means "to fondle secretly while one is feeling hot." Keane effortlessly and elegantly reminds us of the wealth of our Indo-Eurpoean linguistic heritage without our having to resort to dry-as-dust Sanskrit grammars published in 1871 in Koenigsberg written in leaden Bismarck-era German prose. I can scarcely contain my anticipation for Harold Bloom's overview of Keane's opus, available next Autumn. O glorisosum saeculum saeculorum!
Wilhelmina Gutta-Percha (wiggy@columbia.edu) from New York, New York , March 1, 1999
Keanely Felt
Bil(l) Keane is a genius.
Could any other author have embodied so fruitfully the horrors of genocide, so artfully deconstructed the myth of separation that America subjects itself to?
This is a work, in its own way, as significant as any Spielbergian epic. From the first inverting of the traditional notions of "love" and safety, Keane's superlative, epochal dark study forces us into unwanted contemplating, illuminating the darkness within by ultraviolet irradiation.
Keane never resorts to deus ex machina, instead choosing to leave the reader suspended in that limbo-state inhabitated by Grandma and Grandpa, and, indeed, Ida Know; we crave release, and instead find merely a harrowed row of little comfort, embodied in Jeffy's plasticine, Western-symbolic hair.
Eschewing the crudity of "nutsak" humor and endless, enervating discussions of wher the tent has moved to, Keane skewers us like one of Mommy's ever-sharp Ginsu blades; and we bleed tears. There is no redemption in Keane's work, merely refractions of pain.
It is worth noting that, for the first time, Keane brings domestic discord into the family, as the looming, doom-laden presence of Uncle Roy turns to a shocking, sensual respite with Mommy, leaving the reader shaken.
Bil Keane reads on Friday night at Beat The Meat (2501 Haight Avenue, upstairs) in San Francisco, as part of Gay Pride Week, along with noted eroticist Andrea Dworkin and recently uncloseted lobbyist Ralph Reed, Junior.
A reader from Sedgwick Co., Kansas , February 23, 1999
Was any family ever closer together?
The pleasures of Bil Keane's circle stand in sharp contrast to the all-too-dysfunctional world of today. Seldom have I been so mesmerized by the powers of small children. I defy you to enter the Keane home without being touched in unexpected ways.
A reader from Ixtahuatl, Mexico , February 13, 1999
Heart-stopping action, a page-turner
Another in a series of tense dramas by a master of suspense and intrigue. Bill ('Bil') Keane, sharp as ever, penetrates ever further into the heart of darkness. You will not be able to put this book down. You will gape. You will gnaw your fingernails. You will not sleep until you passed the climax (there are several) in this nerve-wracking page-turner. You will not rest until you know who dun it. Hint: it was not Barfy or Sam or Thel or Billy or Jeffy or Dolly or any of the grandparents, living or dead, or Uncle Roy or Kittycat or Bil himself, who removed the tent from wher it was and left behind only a tell-tale diaper. Buy this book; you won't feel 'bilked' if you do!
A reader from Writer-on-Hack, England , February 9, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
A laugh riot!
"Oing oing oing!" you'll happily sing to yourself as you enjoy this offering of Bil Keane's "The Family Circus" cartoon. All your favorites are here - telepathic greenery, ancestral apparitions, and even the visit by the kids' wacky uncle and sometime-live-in nanny! Buy this book now and keep Bil's supply of MD 20/20 flowing!
A reader from Nutsak, NJ , December 29, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The Rare Combination--Comic and Artistic Genius
This is the book that Bil Keane has been working toward his entire life. Keane is a comic genius that rivals the timing skills Lenny Bruce displayed just before his unexplained death, and at the same time puts wanna-be cartoon "artists" like C. Shulz to shame. When he dropped the second "l" in Bill, it was a message to the world tha Family Circus was going to be a take-no-prisoners comic strip that is one for the ages. In this bedroom-oriented collection, we are constantly waiting for appearances by Not Me, Ida Know and the beloved-but-mysterious Uncle Roy. When they arrive, it is a special Family Circus moment that you will want to share with loved ones.
onebadcat@geocities.com from Boston , December 28, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
One of his best!!!!
Bil Keane scores again with one of his wittiest works yet! I especially loved the scenes where Thel was away, and lovable lug Bil and family had to try and fend for themselves in her absence. Just seeing Bil and Uncle Roy's bungling attempts at making a sandwich with the children was enough to leave me in stitches! There's a warning, though . .don't read it all at once, or you could O.D. on laughter!
A reader from Arizona , December 14, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
I sure like to see this comic strip...especially Thel!
The Krazy Keane Klan is at it again! Bil's adorable way of cartooning puts a Picaso slant on the characters (like Jeffy's one nostril...which coincidently matches Thel's one cone). These melon-headed kids are just keen! Bil even has a way of bringing a life-like quality to Barfy, Sam, and Kittycat. A must for aspiring cartoonists!
A reader from Boston , December 13, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
A lifesaver
I've found that whenever I reach the end of my rope, nothing cheers me up like a nice cup of tea and the hilarious, inspirational musings of master funnyman Bil Keane. The warmth he demonstrates through his characters have helped me through some very trying times. Whenever I pass on, my idea of Heaven would be to appear in the Family Circus as an angel, just like Grandpa Keane. Kudos, Bil!
A reader from Arizona , December 13, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Who's afraid of the dark...NOT ME!
Another hilarious compilation of uproariously funny cartoons by the humor god, Bil Keane. "Sing Me a Loveaby" proves that a mother's love even surpasses "Mrs. Halitosis of Death." A perfect gift from "Santa" or one of his merry elves, like Namgubed.
Billy Joe Bob from Iowa , December 11, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Mad-cap antics of a typical American family
This book is chock full of the zany antics of the lovable Keane family. I especially like Jeffy. I wish they would show Jeffy more. I just can't get enough of Jeffy. In fact, I can't stop looking at his hair for some reason. I don't know why. But he sure is funny.
What Does This Say? (Family Circus)
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 3.5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 17
william@keane.net from Keaneston, AZ , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The best Family Circus book ever!!!
Having been a longtime fan of Bil Keane's wonderful and wholesome Family Circus cartoons, I have to say that "What Does This Say?" has to be my favorite off all the books. I hurt my sides from laughing. I doubt Bil Keane will ever top himself. I would give this book 10 stars if I could.
A reader from Green Valley, Arizona , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
I'll tell you what it says...it says Keane is one funny man!
I laughed so hard I wet my pants! Of course that's not saying much...I'm old, and I wear Depends undergarments...but hey, Bil Kane is hilarious! I just love his five children: Billy, Jeffy, Dilly, J.P. and his hairy son Barfy. And there's just something about little Dilly that screams "I have powers...f-f-f-funt!" I wouldn't mind meeting their grandma too! *Yowza* You know what they say, "while the cat's in the dirt, the mouse will flirt!" I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to laugh, especially the senior citizens...just make sure you first use Polygrip to keep your teeth wher they are! Don't spend your last days rocking back and forth in a rocking chair...spend them reading this book...you'll die laughing...literally!
franka@abendroth-consulting.com from Germany , March 2, 1999
Where are the snowdens of yesteryear?
Keane be illin. I read he book. It funny. Tovaritch! Into the jiggert, roggen forl! Hordes of rotting teemers binged on my aroma. Oh you subtle man! If one reads each second sentence of the book only, omitting every 4th word, one is suddenly confronted with a description of keanes first trip to hartford connecticut during the famous "hartford toaster war". This was obviously a time which left brutal scars on the young writers psyche. Why else would he refer to "those darn toasters!" (a sentence ending which still sends a shiver up my back)? keane will always remain something of a mystery to his millions of adoring fans. i personally love the way he works with the letter "d". his use of "d" can only be compared to Cezanne's use of orange and green, yet even this is nothing compared to the ecstasy one can achieve by discovering a faint pattern in his mandelbrot'ian juxtaposition of "the" relative to the post industrial worker ethic. i have begun reading one word a day from a random selection of his books, and at certain moments throughout my day, i am overcome with a deep depression mingled with nausea which i have begun to savour and await with a certain masochistic weltschmerz. oh keane, oh keane, where are the snowdens of yesteryear? A reader from Topeka, KS , March 2, 1999 Bil Keane is one of the best cartoonists of all times! First of all, I read this book (well, the first time anywayz) all the way through. I just couldn't let myself put it down! I would recommend this to anyone of any age group if you needed either a good book, or a good laugh. It fits under both categories! And for you people that think I'm crazy, Well, what can I say?!?!?!?! I think ya'll are crazy!
Herr Untermeyer (mactheknife@gnomes.zurich.ch) from Helvetia , March 2, 1999
Brechtian brilliance!
Any reader concerned about not being able to identify with the characters in this, Keane's masterpiece, is quite simply missing the point. Keane (who studied at the feet of Bertolt Brecht in Zurich in the early '40s) has provided a stunning indictment of the hurlyburly and alienation of modern suburban life. The lack of continuity from one cartoon to another is emblematic of the dissociation of modern man from his fellows and his environment. If the characters did not at all times remind you that they are merely line drawings in a comic strip, not real humans, Keane would run the risk of creating empathy and reader identification, which would undermine his entire philosophical point.
A reader from Giorgia, Russia , March 2, 1999
Keane reaches the heart, and leaves a stain.
Keane turns his lens inward this time around and narrows the focus to include hard to tackle issues that plague the family unit. Frankly I am shocked that more parents don't discuss nocturnal emissions with thier children! They're bad for the enviroment, and they just smell awfull! I know I was down right scared to death when I first encountered this problem. Dolly laid it on the line for little jeffy, and he's a better kid for it, way to go dolly! Keane really nails it when grandpa's partial stroke leaves him with a nervous tick that resembles something that leaves everyone uncomfortable! I for one stared open mouthed and uneasy as the Keanes pen displayed this beloved character in such a grotesque light. I cried, I cried all night because of this. But I needed it, Bill Keane showed me something last night that will stay with me in my apartment for days! Finally, it's gone, but not without leaving a stain. Bill Keane's mastery reaches the heart, and leaves stains that don't come out.
Wilhelmina Gutta-Percha, Ph.D (wigch@columbia.edu) from New York, NY , March 1, 1999
The Nam-Shub Of Jeffy
Bil Keane, savage chronicler of the suburban cultural-supremacist Zeitgeist, has stumbled. The assaultive, Ding An Sich literalism of "I Had A Frightmare" has yielded, in this case, to an uncompelling, bizarrely flat "comic book".
Perhaps Keane's circular lens has lost its focus as he has become more beloved by the literary elite; despite his well-publicized refusal to admit his sexual orientation, he is well-known to be the compatriot of fellow shockmaster Brett Easton Ellis.
We can only hope that Keane can remember wher the tent of his fervid imagination rests, and return to drive his turgid, inflamed spike of rhetoric into the loamy denseness of a dissipated American society. Better the light airiness of Ayn Rand (long suspected to be the model for Keane's suspiciously voluptuous "Dolly") than to see the past master weak.
takashi Ido (tido@nisu.os.ac.jp) from osaka Japan , February 27, 1999
Taking My Laugh with circus more please!!!
This is best to be funnie of the Circus Family around my time. Am taking Barfy the clean rug sampel??? ah ah ah ''No more dress dropping, DOLLY DOLLY!,, Ginger flavour makign it is preview of time, was is where funnie man live. Onna-Tarashi! In Then ''soy sauce,, or ''soylent,, joking is the time... Daddy-san working also talk ''Yopparatchatta,, ah ah ah
ahmed@pjsbutt.kw from G'Notzak, Kuwait , February 26, 1999
What the heck are you people on? The man's a genius.
The subject line says it all. What the heck are you people talking about? There's no "Uncle Roy" in this strip, no psychic ferns, no "nutsaks" -- just good, clean, honest, family fun. And if that's not enough for you people, then you should be ashamed to call yourself Americans.
A reader from Arcata, CA , February 23, 1999
Bil Keane does it again and again!!!
Heartwarming is what Bil Keane does best, and this collection certainly delivers the goods. You'll love hearing little Dolly, Billy, and Jeffy trip their syntax into a frenzy of word play as they espouse their love for eating "bitato ships" and reading the "bitchuaries." My favorite is the one where Jeffy pleads "i pied my pance and barfo is poopin on the flor don't be mad mommie." The hair is hypnotic and the ferns are psychic, and the action is riveting--what keeps the tent wher it is, anyway? this is one heartwarming little book, gone horribly awry.
A reader from Mellon, WI , February 22, 1999
It's a Family Affair
Bil Keane has long been adept at appropriating stuff for his own ends. So when Amazon.com created room for Netters to review books themselves, it was only a matter of time before some festering subculture crawled into that free space to subvert its intended use. The first radical fringe group to do so? An old hand at this sort of thing: Bil's son, Jeffy Keane himself. No doubt, what makes Amazon's free c-space so appealing to this wavy-haired psychopath is that it allows for the same punchy truck-stop mirth he never had a chance to develop working on dear old dad's nepotic regime. There, every few days, a panel from Bil Keane's ever-cutesy Family Circus cartoon is posted, having been "cleaned" to a great degree by Cowles and King Features. Food and drink are withheld from Bil's alcoholic spawn until a suitably cutesy-poo caption is delivered. Need we say the vast majority of Jeff's submissions are even less wholesome than Bil's original script? What else would you expect of a severely troubled "rat boy" living deep within the bowels of a middle-American dungeon? Lately the plight of this poor man-boy has come to the attention of a Baltimore-based "journalist," who was more than happy to provide some free publicity, but couldn't really be bothered with crediting the Right Jolly Man whose embarrassingly below-par Dolly-ism he quoted. It might be easy to write off the work of Bil Keane as juvenile tomfoolery. But how much critical evaluation does "What Does This Say?" really need? If Keane had not succeeded where Ponce de Leon failed, the children would be able to read by themselves. Keane's twisted white-breadedness has wrought its own horrors upon his family life, now a grotesque Frankensteinian existence which one may only hope to dull -- if just a little -- with sweet, sweet alcohol. And isn't it important to remember that things can be employed for uses other than those for which they were intended? Yes, it is. Though the same things that dull emotional trauma may very well cause physical pain. NEVER forget the safe word.
A reader from Knutsak, Mississippi , February 19, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Riveting!
This stunning multipage 'book' represents a breakthrough in publishing history. Thin rectangular panels of pressed wood fiber, bearing strange words and drawings in a blackish stain, are bound together at the left edge. The result is a portable collection of artworks on a related theme. This art form has the potential to convey actual thoughts and ideas from one human being to the next - a potential only hinted at among the drivel in this unfortunate example. But other greater talents in the fullness of time may elaborate on this basic concept in a meaningful way. Thank you, Mr. Keane.
Dirk Agnostic, Deaggie@aol.com from Pelican Bay Maximum security facility , February 19, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Bil Keane's work shows the tenderness of chldhood.
I've long been a fan the Family Circus and its vivid depiction's of tender, hairless, underaged flesh, and this book does not disappoint! Few writers so accurately portray the raw, pent-up sexuality of an eight year old the way Bil Keane does. Billy, the experienced eldest, with his pert buttocks and "come-hither" smile. Dolly, always ready to comfort with her wide and willing mouth. Little Jeffy, perhaps only a pony now, but soon to be a spirited young stallion that I long to ride bare-back, and P.J. whom I have long dreamed of making my own personal sock puppet.
quexblacht@yahoo.com from Scottsdale, AZ , February 9, 1999 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
The Keanes are poised to trip into the next millenium!
I've always been a fan of Bil Keane's meta-biographical soylent pen-and-ink scrawls and delightfully extreme captions of the Family Cirkus. In an age rampant with broken homes and dysfunctional families, it's nice to see such a wholesome familial unit free of the background clutter that ruins the work of younger, supposedly hipper cartoonists such as Charles Schulz and Stan Lee.
It's all in the characters. The paternal, clear-eyed Bil(l). The angular, mono-peaked, helmet-haired Thel. Feisty, Xena-philic Dolly. And Billy, the luscious apple of Bil(l)'s eye. Wavy, pot-bellied Jeffy. And the adorable antics of rosy-cheeked, scheming baby Quexblacht. And all the supporting characters: the lasciviousness of Uncle Roy, the clear-headedness of Ida Know, the bottomless wisdom of boarder Busty DeTetons, and the mortal state of Grandpa Keane.
The only hiccup in this otherwise wondrous collection is the baffling inclusion of the special April Fool's FC cartoon drawn by R. Crumb, where Billy accidentally steps on his own inexplicably elastic scrotum. Because of that, I feel compelled to deduct a star.
A reader , December 28, 1998 <Picture: 2 out of 5 stars>
A Bit Too High Brow
I found bits and pieces funny, but got tripped up in the frenzy of some of the more high-brow concepts, such as the mysterious Uncle Roy and how he represnts the undesirables in the world. And there's this one kid who appears in EVERY panel. I found some of the Haikus not too funny, mainly because I don't know what a Haiku is or what keeps it wher it is.
Mr.?@void.floating.com from New York , December 13, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Good review, mate
Another soylent classic by Bil Keane that fills the void of the comic pages. Keane's 'The Family Circus' evolves around the antics of the Keane children: JEFFY, PJ, Billy, and Dolly; their three pets: Kittycat, Sam, and Barfy; and their bewildered parents: Bil and Thel.
I enjoy the wholesome family values presented by this book wher the Keane family enjoy another outdoor tent camping vacation, pennant a trip to Washington, and entertain various guests. An enjoyable experience for all.
A reader from Arizona , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Good on you mate!
A wonderfully witty book filled with captivating captions! I especially enjoy the many variations of the "trippin' my nutsak..." phrase...sheer genius! Will the zaniness ever end?
A reader from Wisconsin , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Another classic Family Circus book!
Bil Keane has struck gold once again. In "What does this say?" he explores all the varied ways that a family can express love and togetherness. From special "good morning"s to night-time rituals, the Keane family always finds time for everyone, although Jeffy does seem to the star of the show, as usual. Not that I'm complaining, Jeffy is everyone's favourite Keane, there is just something about him that almost hypnotizes you to love him!
"Lyric Language-Swedish/English Series No. 1: Learn Swedish the Fun Way!"
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
william@keane.net from Keaneston, AZ , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The best Family Circus book ever!!!
Having been a longtime fan of Bil Keane's wonderful and wholesome Family Circus cartoons, I have to say that "Lyric Language-Swedish/English Series No. 1: Learn Swedish the Fun Way!" has to be my favorite off all the books. I hurt my sides from laughing. I doubt Bil Keane will ever top himself. I would give this book 10 stars if I could.
Kittycat's Motor is running!
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
HoopNation@aol.com from San Francisco, California , March 3, 1999
A masterpiece of Zen literature
The Chinese Zen master Joshu asked in "The Gateless Gate," Does a dog have the Buddha nature? As the philosopher left it to his readers to contemplate, Bil Keane addresses the question but does not answer directly in "Kittycat's Motor is Running!," for as in all great Buddhist literature, Keane does not wish to reduce the possibility of genuine enlightenment to a mere drive-thru sensibility more worthy of Cathy or Ziggy. As Keane shows with his deceptively minimalist pen in "Kittycat's Motor is Running!", as Harriet Beecher Stowe does in "Uncle Tom's Cabin," the master-slave relationship inherent in the domestication of our pets or the subjugation of other human beings does not negate their individuality, their souls -- their humanity, if you will. One can almost hear the plaintive wail of John Merrick, the Elephant Man, when he proclaims his humanity in the cry, "I am not an animal!" Is Kittycat's or Barfy's existence any less real, despite their animal natures? One can not fail but discern the subtext in each panel in which Kittycat or Barfy appears, their wordless but proud and defiant assertion, "I *am* an animal -- and a worthy member of this family!" Keane's unspoken questioning of the owner-pet relationship evokes the paradox that an animal has a longer life in a zoo. Yes, but whose life? Is it a life worth living? Keane maintains through the unemotional but pure existence of his charges that they have shed their conscious pains despite their awareness of their leashed and tethered dependence -- and therefore, unlike the earthy (and Earthly) Falstaffian indulgence but relentless unhappiness of Garfield, Kittycat and Barfy do indeed possess the Buddha nature. A masterpiece of Zen literature, worthy of space on your shelf next to "The Three Pillars of Zen," "Siddhartha" and the Dhammapada.
Are You Awake Daddy? (Family Circus)
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 3.5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 4
Roy@Misterquestionmark.org from Pantstuffedwithamster, Florida , March 6, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The day is neigh!
Great Book. I haven't laughed so hard as during the cartoon when Bil is finally crossed off the dead pools. No, daddy is not awake, kiddo! ha ha ha.
william@keane.net from Keaneston, AZ , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The best Family Circus book ever!!!
Having been a longtime fan of Bil Keane's wonderful and wholesome Family Circus cartoons, I have to say that "Are You Awake Daddy?" has to be my favorite off all the books. I hurt my sides from laughing. I doubt Bil Keane will ever top himself. I would give this book 10 stars if I could.
A reader from Seattle, WA , March 2, 1999
Keane Kaptures Millennial Angst
In 351 days Satan will come back to Earth and battle with Bil Keane. NBC had to be stopped because they will shoot a special ray at Keane and make him loose. Please tell NBC to stop shooting their rays at me. This is why we all must pray. NBC is like the Roman Empire. In the basement of their studios in Burbank they feed Bibles to lions. This is why we need extra police in the year 2000. Bil Keane will serve at God's right hand in His kingdom if we stop NBC.
A reader from Wisconsin , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 3 out of 5 stars>
Somewhat lacking
While the jokes are still as funny as ever, Bil Keane's "art" just doesn't live up to it's usual excellence. I normally love his minimalism (often times removing all background and details so as to better showcase the characters) but I don't think his usual technique was appropriate for the Keane's vacation to Washington DC. If it weren't for PJ and his "Washington DC" pennent is every panel, I wouldn't have know where they were. Perhaps Bil should have included some well major Washington DC landmarks in the background.
Count Your Blessings : A Family Circus Collection
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 4
E.Q.D.H. MacFahrquahr (snivelingdrone@oxford.ed.uk) from Measley-upon-Twit, Lancashire, Northern England , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 2 out of 5 stars>
Typical American "humour" falls flat.
I found that this book has absolutely nothing to offer the reader, save for the drawings of Little Dolly wearing her schoolgirl uniform and pigtails, which I quite liked. Phwooooaaaarr!!!
Drake_Freisler@omnicom.com from Nematode, Nebraska , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
A literary cry of hope from out of our darkest prison.
In 1971 a young Johnny Keane found himself incarcerated in the Texas state prison in Huntsville for the murder of his twin brother Billy. At first unrepenitent, Mr. Keane slowly discovered that art allowed him to escape the confines of his narrow cell. Working with the crudest of handmade art supplies (inks created with stale coffee grounds, paper made from scraps and old envelope backs, art pens that are little more than crude toothpick styli), Mr. Keane has now created a body of redemptive art that shows the humanity within him. As homage to the brother he murdered, Mr. Keane uses the nom-de-plume of "Bil," the missing letter "l" representative of the life he stole with a homemade shiv on a crazy drunken August afternoon.
All of Mr. Keane's work is tinged with his unlettered backwoods genius, but none approach the spiritual epiphany of "Count Your Blessings," in which Billy(!) learns at last that there is no heaven. Despite this shattering personal philosophy, Billy is comforted by the deep understanding that if he can do one just thing, he can die shriven and forgiven by his victims.
A coal-town boy from Craigsville, Va. , March 7, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Count, Indeed
Not since the Wizard of Oz has an artist dared to question the fundamental building block of the post-Industrial era economy with such courage as Bil Keane. Like the aforementioned work, later trivialized into a feature film that blissfully ignored its central theme, "Count Your Blessings" is a thinly-disguised diatribe against the gold standard. When you hear little Billy ask whether his fellow Boy Scout friend Brett walked into the woods, the reader smiles, envisioning both the farcical nature of the Bretton-Woods treaty and the quasi-fascist nature of the "uniform" he's wearing. Re-released just in time to alert neophytes to the dangers of the Y2K crisis, after digesting the many double entendres in this seminal work, you too will want to run to the nearest branch of the U.S. Treasury, turn in your "dollars" for gold, and bury them in your yard. And then use a tent to keep it wher it is. God bless America, and God bless Mr. Keane
Frank from MA , February 26, 1999
Check out the back cover for hot action......
Much like the album design of an 80's hard-rock hair band, the rear cover of this tome is a rear-view of the cover shot. My boy Bil is grabbing Thel's juicy peach. Give me some-o-dat!
Punchdrunk the Clown (punchdrunk334@aol.com) from Baraboo, Wisconsin , February 26, 1999
Where's the circus?
It's called the Family Circus, right, okay, so it's not called for instance the Ringling Bros. Circus or the Jim Rose Circus but HELLO! it does have the word CIRCUS in there am I right? So where are the clowns, the tightrope walkers, the lion tamers? Where are the three rings? The master of ceremonies? Where is the SUSPENSE and EXCITEMENT and smell of greasepaint and roar of crowds? even an elephant or two would help. And a trapeze act, definitely a trapeze act. Come to think of it, I would guess the Ringling Brothers were family, weren't they, if they're brothers and they have the same last name it stands to reason, doesn't it, unless you're some old hack cartoonist who wants to shatter the illusions of a circus-crazy kid who dreams about life under the big top and rereads his Toby Tyler book at least once a week and I just can't deal with this any more. I just want to pick up the pieces and get on with my life.
A reader from Riverdale , January 8, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
It's good that trees died to make this book!
Mr. Keane wrote another funny book(Note that I call him MR. KEANE. I mean this as a form of respect. I have not acheived in life to the level of Mr. Keane, and thusly believe that it is right and proper to address him with a form of respect. Given the limitations of the English language and the Anglo-Saxon focusing on efficiency of the spoken word, the language has sadly failed to develop the subtle intricacies of the French tongue, the international language of diplomacy, in regards to salutations and general etiquette. Thencely, I shall refer to him as Mister.) I recommend it highly
mrlukeplease@hotmail.com from Dallas , November 13, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
A great tool for families!
Using the small moments from an average household's day, this book presents a humorous face while addressing issues that confound families. Faced with the uncertainties of life, the strength of the Family and its heartwarming humor help Bil, Thel, and the kids steer a clear course and avoid all the "I Don't Know's" and "O Yeah?'s"
Take a journey to a place where family togetherness is practiced day and night, where play is not so frenzied...and where a steadfast Pop holds the family firmly where it is.
With "Count Your Blessings," Keane once again surges to the top of this reviewer's list! Highly recommended!
Any Children?
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from East Lumbek, Malasia , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Brilliant!!!!111!
I thot it was good. Especially the toy solderz.
At Home With the Family Circus.
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 4.5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 3
Katie Conway (policypam@aol.com) from Chicago, IL , January 7, 1999 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
It's good for you, mate!
An evening at home with the Family Circus is just the thing for a quick pick-me-up when you're feeling low. The always charming Keane family is more fun than a barrel of monkeys and twice as loving towards each other. A book that covers close brother-sister moments, Mommy's mysterious anatomy, *and* Daddy's wacky friends is worth picking up for anyone. It'll warm even the most cynical of hearts.
A reader from Trickplay, MT , January 7, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
#1 In Our Hearts!
Although this book is out-of-print and ranks 388,693 on the Amazon.com Top 500,000, it is still the #1 book for the lovers of mellon-headed children everywhere. Who can not feel immensely sorry for a group of siblings who all have arms that barely reach their ample waists? "At Home" features all peripheral the characters you have loved for decades...Not Me, Ida Know and the irrepressible Uncle Roy. What goes on behind the doors at the Family Circus home may not be for everyone, but if those walls could talk I'm sure the DA would be quite interested.
mutantdog@aol.com from Bug Tussle, Arkansas , January 4, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Truly magnificent and awe-inspiring
This is without a doubt the funniest book I have read in years, except maybe the bible. It has something hilarious for everyone, from Thel's poodle haircut, to Bil's trademark blank stare, to Grandma's necrophilia, to Dolly's dysfunctional behavior, to Jeffy's mesmerizing personality...Resistance is futile! Come on in to the Keane household and laugh until your eyes bleed!
The Family Circus Date Book
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from ||Washington DC >> , December 30, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Hard-core excellence!
Keane 's pen is, standing tall and proud, has produced by far the best of the "Family Circus" series, graphically. In this collection he really lets loose, abandoning the subtlety of earlier works such as "Trippin' With the Family Circus" and even "The Family Circus Has Powers! (f-f-funt)" with wonderful panels featuring all sorts of deliciously naughty pairings. I highly recommend the one with Jeffy and the giant fish, which easily rivals anything by Mapplethorpe or Red*Roy, and which I eagerly mounted in my bedroom in a wild frenzy.
With each rereading of this book, one will undoubtedly find each seperate one-page panel becoming more and more a part of the whole "Family Circus Date Book" experience. I've read it several times, and the pages are inextricably stuck together now both in my mind and in reality. I started with the Thel panels, then moved on to Dolly, Kittykat, etc., until I was utterly spent.
I hope it will be good for you, too.
It's Not Easy Bein' the Littlest
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from Roybil, DFC , December 18, 1998 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
It sure isn't!
I can really relate to the humour in this book. I mean, really, when you're trying to trip in that frenzy, being the littlest can be a real drawback. To Bil Keane, I say Good On You, Mate for another fine collection of Family Circle panels.
Jeffy's Lookin at Me!
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from Tucson , January 9, 1999 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Cute cartoons from an admirer of Rush Limbaugh
These adorable cartoons feature a zombie-like father (Bil), his shapely but enigmatic spouse (Thel), their genius-level no. 1 son (Billy), the precociously coquettish daughter (Dolly), their second son with reddish and hypnotically wavy hair (Jeffy), the inarticulate baby of the family (PJ). Thel and the kids are depicted as having melon-like heads. Dogs Barfy and Sam and cat Kittykat round out the household. Present in spirit are (1) Not Me, (2) Ida Know, and (3) Dead Grandpa. Present in spirit but not shown are Uncle Roy and the shapely Ms. Bird. In this book, Jeffy's droll antics with a sack of nuts are featured, as, on a camping trip, he tries to keep the family tent from leaving its appointed position. Caution: certain scenes in the book may be unsuitable for younger viewers. Kittykat's habitual means of slaking his or her thirst in particular are questionable at best. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Pasghetti and Meat Bulbs!
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 2
A reader from Wisconsin , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Cute Kids!
I laugh myself silly every time one of those adorable Keane kids mispronounces something. It never gets old. "p'sghetti" Ha!
Uncle Roy from French Lick, Indiana , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 3 out of 5 stars>
More fun than a barrell of pasghetti
Join the Keanes for another hilarious journey through the minefield of suburban life. Watch and laugh as the ever-lovable Keane children amuse you with their endearing innocence and cute mispronunciations of food items. This book is a special treasure for Family Circus fans, since it includes the only cartoon in which spaghetti is pronounced correctly. Sure to be a collector's item!
Quiet! Mommy's Asleep!
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
John Q Public (sickpoodles@mutantdog.com) from Mystic, Iowa , January 20, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
This humorous collection is really wher it is
Bil Keane has outdone himself once again, which isn't easy, with this masterful compendium of white-bread wit. The cartoons herein run the entire gamut from belly laughs to hearty chuckles. The suspense builds throughout this volume...and I'm sure you'll enjoy as much as I did, the thrilling climax, where the ether finally wears off.
Where's PJ?
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
Dr. Poodle (sickpoodles@mutantdog.com) from a cardboard box in the alley , February 4, 1999
Where's PJ? Ida Know! Let's ask Dad!
Join the Keane family for another raucous roller coaster ride through suburban heck! Chuckle at PJ's confusion, as his dad tries to play peek-a-boo with him, despite having no eyeballs! Watch the fun as the Keanes comb Washington, D. C., searching for their missing infant, stopping only occasionally to enjoy the wonderful sights along the way! I give this book my rare and coveted five-melon rating!
When's Later, Daddy?
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from Californio , February 12, 1999
Hilarious!!
Hilarious!! Hilarious!! Hilarious!!
Due to the unconventional spelling of Bil's first name, many of his books are listed only under Bill Keane. I would think this would hurt his sales, but I guess that's just part of the aura of the Bil Keane enigma, huh? The following reviews are found when searching for Bill Keane...
I'm Wearin' a Zucchini!
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
Dr. Poodle (sickpoodles@mutantdog.com) from No Permanent Address , February 10, 1999
Excellent portrayals of various enticing vegetables
This book is a fine introduction to the creative use of vegetables. Dolly's various poses while wearing various food items was especially instructive. I also thought the use of melons was exemplary. I give it two thumbs way the heck up.
Family Circus We're Home!
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from Funny Book, City , February 16, 1999
Great!!!
This is one of the funniest books I have ever, I repeat, ever read!!! Please read this book!! It's great!!
I'll Shovel the Cards
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 11
A reader from down the slippery slope to the Circle K , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 4 out of 5 stars>
Please Burn Baby Burn
Truly a moving exploration of Dolly's growing dissatifaction of life as she knew it with the rest of her bourgois family. Violent outbursts during family poker night, repeated abuse of No-Doz leading to amphetamine psychosis, and a morbid interest roadkill soon become useless in combating the festering boredom of the Keane household. All that changes once Dolly discovers the magic of a good jug of gasoline and a lighter. Anarchy takes on a melon headed shape as the neighborhood goes up in flames. Guest appearance by Uncle Roy as a firefighter. I award this 4 red stars and half a bear claw.
Mr?@lol.com from Butcrak, MI , March 8, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
The best Cowles/DC Comics crossover yet!
See what happens when the Joker sets up a hide-out in the Keane Neighborhood and Batman has to recruit the children to help him find it. Every single panel is full of soylent excitement as Poison Ivy lets loose her most devestating plant, the psychic fern!
The grim story climaxes when Jeffy and Billy double team Harly Quinn, and Dolly, armed only with her natural charms and a shovel, has to keep the Joker's razor edged cards at bay. All this happens while the Dark Knight recuperates after an encounter with the Keane matriarch, Thelma in a form fitting cat suit. Meow.
A reader from Ixtahuatl, New Jersey , March 5, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
I can't wait for the sequel!
I'll shovel the cards, and you shovel the dirt so we can bury Mommy in the back yard and collect the insurance! Yes, the plot thickens like blood pudding in this thriller from the beyond! The sombre plot is lightened by the cute capers of Dolly, Billy, Jeffy and the adorably retarded PJ as they artfully avoid being buggered repeatedly by Barfy, Sam, Dad, Not Me, Ida Know, Dead Grandpa, Still-living Grandpa, the weird sample lady at the grocery store, and the security-check lady at the airport! The climax comes finally when the card-carrying kiddies are introduced to the game of '52 pickup'. I can only somewhat sheepishly say, 'Thank Ewe, Bil!'
jon@sysfs.com from San Francisco, CA , March 4, 1999
I'll Shovel the Praise!
What CAN'T Bil Keane do? In this far-reaching addition to his already prolific "Family Circus" opus, Mr. Keane shows us what Søren Kierkegaard, René Descartes and Ludwig Wittgenstein could not: that each of us needs a little Granpa, Jeffy and (yes), a little Thel in our lives if we want to truly understand wherein consciousness lies.
A reader from Bilthel, DFC (in the good ol' USA, mate!) , February 27, 1999
Outdated humor keeps this book wher it is
This book is one of the last masterpieces written as American literature moved from what we call "Old English" (use the much cliched Olde if you must) to "New English." And trust me, it shows. Virtually every book ever written during this period, (essentially, around Twain's Huckleberry Finn), bears the same markings - incredibly lavish diction, complex structure and syntax, and all the elements that elevate your reading to that next level, where you're seeing beyond the simple plot and percieving Keene's masterful use of symbolism and metaphor, and are able to appreciate probably the last great novel written in before the literary revival of the late 1800s, then you'll consider this book a worthwhile read. Otherwise, you're better off using the four bucks for bus fare to visit Uncle Roy.
chasufarley@hotmail.com from Butte, MT , February 26, 1999
I spent good money on this?
I really was looking forward to reading this book after reading about Mr. Keane's experiences doing slots back in his Vegas days. Imagine my disappointment when I found out how little this book had to do with card sharking! The only one in the Keane family to have any sort of a poker experience is daughter Dolly and her girlfriends. Bil seems to stick to the one topic he really understands; gin.
The only redeaming quality of this book is the interesting forward by Dr. G. Cuthbertson, PHD.
A reader from Arizona , December 22, 1998
Bil Keane puts the "FUN" in "funny!"
I laughed so hard I felt like I was ripping my gut back in a frenzy of card play! Those cute, crazy, cartoon, Keane kids hold your interest wher it is. My favorites include the "Uncle Roy" visits, Jeffy's "hypno-hair", and of course the delightful "psychic fern." Mr. Keane definitely puts a funny Spinn on every day occurances.
policypam@aol.com from Chicago, IL , December 14, 1998
The kids are cute, the jokes are real, a must read!
What can I say? "I'll Shovel the Cards" is, quite frankly, a shovelful of fun! This installment of the crazy adventures of the Keane clan is a real keeper. Previous Family Circus collections have always been heartfelt, hilarious, and oh so true, and this one is no exception. Pick up "I'll Shovel the Cards" today!
A reader from Atlanta , December 13, 1998
He's still got it, baby!
Bil Keane's work is as fresh today as it was 30 years ago. Whoever said that you can't judge a book by its cover has certainly never read "I'll Shovel..." Hilarity awaits readers of all ages as Bil's children continually struggle to master the English language, ponder God, and compete for their parents' affection. Kudos, Mr. Keane...Kudos!
Cal Tollefson from Amarillo, TX , December 12, 1998
Sad Clown humor Done Right
Bil Keane's work not only touches the heart but also the soul as he dissects the inner working of a painful gambling addiction in this very special edition entitled "I'll Shovel the Cards". I cried when I read it. It was that good.
PJ's Barefoot All Over!
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 2
A reader from Leavenworth, KS , February 2, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Barefoot Is Best!
It's no wonder this book is out-of-print. The uptight holier-than-thou attitudes of the '90s, as exemplified by our current president, could not withstand the brutal honesty of these very special drawings of P.J. Yes, he's barefoot all over, and he's proud of it. His father, Bil, is equally proud and the drawings of "barefoot" P.J. are wonderful expressions of Bil's special love for his youngest son. We can only hope that with this book out of print, that Jeffy--the true star of The Family Circus--doesn't find out that there's been a book dedicated to another member of this very close, yet sometimes dysfunctional, family.
A reader from Texas , January 30, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Not your typical Family Circus book!
Nothing can warm my heart like the adorable moppets of the Family Circus! And this is not your typical Family Circus book, either! In this volume Bil Keane, while never quite leaving the 50's, explores the sensual, yet innocent side of childhood in the style of contemporary artists like Jock Sturges and Sally Mann. A must for collectors!
The Family Circus Is Us
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from the land that time forgot , March 3, 1999
Pure genius!
WHAT HATH KEANE WROUGHT?!!! How the author known as "Bil Keane" fashioned this masterpiece is beyond my ken. Optically ingesting this magnum opus brought such changes to my mortal being. Oh, the tintinnabulations in my ears as I turned each page, lovingly! I began to doubt that I was on earth, I was spinning ever-upward--the ecstacy, the rapture! I truly hope it was "Keane"'s work, and not a piece of bad beef, that was causing my whole body to shudder spasmodically.
The amount of work that went into producing this collection! The number of newspapers he must have bought, the time he spent cutting out each panel and gluing them together in such an attractive manner! Over and over and over again, just to make sure that each and every one of us could obtain our own copy! WE SHOULD ALL, EACH AND EVERY ONE OF US, TAKE STOCK OF OUR BLESSINGS, FOR THE DAY OF JUDGMENT IS COMING!
Can I Have a Cookie?
A reader from Boston , February 26, 1999
....and a tall glass of Thel!
this is no more a waste of money than this review is a waste of space.....but my god Thel is a hottie.....
Family Circus Oops We're Out of Juice
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from Boston, MA , March 1, 1999
Billy's foray into hip-hop culture is all-dat!
When the kids start listening to Snoop Dog, Bil and Thel have to lock up the gin! Those are some strong after-school snacks!!
Family Circus Colorful Life
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
policypam@aol.com from Chicago, IL , December 12, 1998 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Both heartwarming and hilarious--a must read FC anthology!
It's a colorful life indeed with America's most lovable family. Like every Family Circus collection, we are treated to moments of childhood poignancy mixed in with uproariously funny bites of everyday family life. I guarantee that anyone who buys this book will be torn between cutting favorite panels out to post on the refrigerator and preserving this record of the adventures of the Keane clan.
Previous installments of the Family Circus saga have always been touching, funny, and oh-so-true, and this volume does not disappoint--pick up "Colorful Life" today!
PJ's Still Hungry
Average Customer Review: Number of Reviews: 1
A reader from Boston , February 19, 1999
Disturbing but poignant look at adolescent obesity!
Keane's departure from his traditionally elegant and profoundly simple wit in "Pj's Still Hungry", is a refreshing but ample exposure to his exploration of the darker side of the human condition. Rather than to induce giggles from his broad readership with flagrant ridicule of children with speech impediments and children who rely on invisible friends to abjure personal responsibility, Keane shows us the effects of Billy's, Dolly's, and Jeffy's years in the spotlight on attention-starved PJ, a hunger which manifests itself through his uncontrollable eating. Watch PJ balloon to a 150-pound infant, while Billy ignores his brother's cries for help and walks around the neighborhood, exploring trash cans and bird's nests, Dolly talks to her dead grandfather, and Jeffy has a fling with Ida Know after she knocks over a lamp.
As PJ keeps eating and becomes more rotund, Keane accomodates this shift in the familial harmony of the "Circus" by introducing square cartoon panels, This dramatic tool, which allows PJ to actually fit in the cartoon frame, foreshadows the inevitable demise of peace within the family. When PJ tries to eat Kittykat, he's off to fat camp for the denouement - no doubt to return for wacky adventures with a kinder, gentler Family Circus.
Revies posted at www.barnesandnoble.com
The Best of Bombeck
Number of Reviews: 1 Average Rating: <Star>
Jeffy (mutantdog@aol.com), a tweezer repairman from Dubuque, January 8, 1999, <Star>
A low point in the History of Publishing
Erma Bombeck's 'wit' depressed me immeasurably. It took me three days and several fairly potent medication treatments just to get over the melancholy from reading this book. Maybe it was the illustrations. They were abysmal. Unfit for even the bird cage...although my bird's response to this book was most appropriate.
Also recommended: Knock Knock Knockin on Heaven's Gate, The Care and Feeding of Melons
Sing Me a Loveaby?
Number of Reviews: 1 Average Rating: <Star><Star><Star><Star><Star>
A reviewer, I'm a 34 year old Family Circus Fan, December 29, 1998, <Star><Star><Star><Star><Star>
Keane strikes gold-- Again!
This book is by far Keane's best-- unlike his others, much of the focus is on precicious little Jeffy, who is so hypnotizing that he could probably carry the strip all by himself. I especially liked the 'Thel on vacation' subplot, where the family must (humorously, of course) learn to fend for themselves. When Bil and Uncle Roy try to make a sandwich with the kids-- I just about laughed out loud! This book'll definitely keep you glued wher you are, and you'll have so much fun that you'll be gripping your gut back in plenty of laugh-pain!
Also recommended: Other comic-strip books I enjoy include the 'Daddy, Where'd the Tent Go?' series, and my kids love 'Come Chirping with the Butter Mutts.' (Those are sort of hard to find, though)
What Does This Say?
Number of Reviews: 1 Average Rating: <Star><Star><Star><Star><Star>
Simon Birch (trippingonmynutsack@yahoo.com), a unemployed Cartoonist, December 14, 1998, <Star><Star><Star><Star><Star>
Family Circus
I got this book for my 4 year old kid, he loved it. He loves Jeffy the most, and can't get enough of him. The only downside to the book is that he has picked up on the cute mispronounciations like 'sp'ghetti' and 'dikplay' that Bil uses to capture the phoenetics of his children. Thoroughly enjoyable throughout, I would recomend this book to all Unemployed fathers and Stepford wives everywhere.
Also recommended: 'What's in Uncle Roy's Black Bag?' 'The Pyshic Fern and Other Bedtime Stories' 'Megolomania and Other Social Diseases'
I'll Shovel the Cards
Number of Reviews: 2 Average Rating: <Star><Star><Star>
Dr. Poodle (sickpoodles@mutantdog.com), a licensed poodle psychologist, January 19, 1999, <Star>
A Frenzy of Tricky Wordplay
This book answers the age-old question, 'How many times can a talentless cartooning hack recycle the same lame ideas before the public wises up?'. After ingesting this lukewarm, reheated drivel, it is clear to me that the answer is a resounding, 'Infinity plus one!'. Golly...isn't it just Darling when small children mispronounce words in a clever way....for the EIGHTEEN-MILLIONTH TIME??? You bet! As Jeffy says, 'Cheese 'n Crackers, Got All muddy!'
Also recommended: 'How to Draw Various Fruit', by B. Keane, and 'Genome Mapping of the Common Sand-Rat' by M. Dog
A reviewer, a reader from Vancouver., December 30, 1998, <Star><Star><Star><Star>
Bil Keane Does It Again!
Bil Keane proves once again why he still is America's master of wit. His minimalist drawing style along with his humourous observations of stay-at-home fatherhood will bring a smile to even the most unhappy camper. Who wouldn't laugh when Billy asks 'Why won't Dolly share her flashlight with me?', or when Jeffy brags that 'We've got the shinyest refrigerator in town!'. It will certainly fill that featureless void in the family bookshelf.
Also recommended: Guilty Pleasures
Daddy's Cap Is on Backwards
Number of Reviews: 1 Average Rating: <Star><Star><Star><Star><Star>
M. Dog (dogdrool@pavlov.com), a boneless chicken rancher, says:, January 15, 1999, <Star><Star><Star><Star><Star>
You will laugh your socks off
Bil Keane, that King-Mother Poobah of minimalist drawing, has done it again. His Dali-esque renderings of reality into incomprehesible squiggles is one of my great joys in life, the other being drill bit collecting. Watch and laugh as the amusing Keane spawn wear various articles of clothing backwards. I almost laughed my brains out!
Also recommended: Canine Genome Mapping, The Family Circus Camping Guide, Where to Go in Iowa
Lyric Language-Swedish/English Series No. 1 : Learn Swedish the Fun Way!
Bill Keane (Illustrator)
Number of Reviews: 1 Average Rating: <Star><Star><Star><Star>
M. Dog (cão do mutant@tongue.com), an unemployed dog-breeder from Iowa, January 21, 1999, <Star><Star><Star><Star>
Bil Keane comete um outro crime de encontro ao humor.
Uma vez que o effluent da pena de Bil Keane foi permitido outra vez desonrar o remains de árvores inoperantes. Não há algum tipo da legislação que nós pode a passagem outlaw este Pablum? Quem porá um batente a este madman? Não Mim! cão do mutant
Also recommended: A Arte Fina do Reparo de Tweezer, Avançados Trout-Spackling
And here are a couple I stumbled upon in the Peanuts section at amazon.com...
And the Beagles and the Bunnies Shall Lie Down Together
by Charles M. Schulz
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 1 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 1
Zeke (reallycreepy@aol.com) from an abandoned farm , January 27, 1999 <Picture: 1 out of 5 stars>
Charles Schultz turns another blind eye
While this book certainly uses an interestingly stark, post-modernist style to capture the subtle ennui of the miserable proletariat world of one Charles Brown, Charles Schultz once again focuses on the 'comic' aspects of cartooning, rather than the myriad problems which affect me personally. Once again he ignores the fact that people like me are forced to eat leftovers, have been reduced to welfare collection (though we do maintain excellent computer systems). . .and don't get me started on his lack of gay characters. I've purchased some of his other books, and if I don't see any improvement, I'll be forced to draw the conclusion that he is pro-bald and pro-yellow shirt and anti-everything else.
Being a Dog Is a Full-Time Job (A Peanuts Collection)
Average Customer Review: <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars> Number of Reviews: 3
M. Dog (dogdrool@pavlov.com) from Moscow, Indiana , January 27, 1999 <Picture: 5 out of 5 stars>
Dog-gone funny! This reviewer gives it Five Bones!
Being a dog is a full-time job, indeed...as Snoopy's wacky antics will certainly convince you. Snoopy pulls various pranks on the adorable Peanuts children that will have you laughing until your eyes bleed! Laugh as Schroeder repels Lucy's wanton advances, and Peppermint Patty plays both sides of the ball! Fun for the entire family, even distant cousins!
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